bump
Posted on 10/15/2007 1:05:13 PM PDT by AuntB
Last nights CBS 60 minutes episode about Dubai, UAE had many glowing words and scenes of the modernized Arab state. To be sure, they are on the economic upward trend, a virtual playground for the rich. Actually Dubai is more like DisneyLand on steroids.
While 85% of the population is alien labor, the Dubai citizens prosper as they pay their foreign labor about $4 to $5 per day wages for 12 hour shifts and resentment grows. CBS referred to this labor arrangement as a , " whiff of exploitation."
The most enlightening part of the program were the remarks of their leader, Sheikh Mohammed.
From the transcript:
Asked what he likes about the U.S., Sheikh Mohammed says, "I like everything about them, except their foreign policy little bit. I don't like their foreign policy."
"Can you be more specific about the foreign policy? What don't you like about the foreign policy?" Kroft asks.
"No I'll leave it vague. Just, I'll leave it like that," the sheikh says. "I think the American people will know what I mean."
"You had conversations, and consultations with the United States before the Iraq war," Kroft says.
"Yes. Yes. We gave the best advice we can to our friends. But, as you know, they don't always listen," the sheikh says.
Sheikh Mohammed acknowledges he was against the war. "It was wrong war," he says.
There are also differences with the U.S. over Iran, which is one of Dubai's closest neighbor, largest trading partners, and one of its biggest investors. Any hostilities in the Persian Gulf could present the sheikh with some difficult choices. But for the time being, business is still booming."[snip]
During a recent debate the subject of Dubai operating US ports as requested by the Bush Administration was presented. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, Arizona Sen. John McCain, former Tennesssee Sen. Fred Thompson, and Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback agreed with the deal, but no so for but California Rep. Duncan Hunter and Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo.
If you recall, Duncan Hunter is the man who stood against the port takeover by the Dubai Sheikh. Hunter said he does not believe the company should have been allowed the large stake in the exchange.
"Because I don't trust them," he said.
And with good reason, Mr. Hunter! Perhaps Duncan Hunter understands more about our 'friends' than most of us realize.
Congressman Duncan Hunter: "No, because I don’t trust them. And I don’t trust them because a few years ago Dubai, while an American Customs agent was trying to stop them, set for delivery a set of nuclear triggers to an anonymous recipient in Islamabad, probably for the A.Q. Khan network. That went directly against American interests. So I would not do that."
Tammy Bruce has some comments about the debate and Dubai:
"I think the clearest indication of what sort of people we're dealing with here is their position on Dubai, a Jew-hating, non-democratic Islamist regime, can buy whatever they want here. With the exception of Hunter and Tancredo, all get an "F" on that national security/values question........ Hunter: NO!!! He doesn't trust them. !! Finally. Says Dubai helped ship nuclear triggers probably to our enemies. We still don't know who. [No one mentions their boycott of Israel and the refusal to touch things a Jew has touched.]"
I'm getting bored. Hunter is coming across as the strongest, most clear on what's happening internationally, and the impact of Unfair Trade on this country. I find it slightly ridiculous that these men, who've been in office forever, are talking incessantly about how things have to change in Washington when they've been in that town for decades creating the problem. It's as though they think they can convince us they're all outsiders or something. Listening to John "Amnesty" McCain talking about the need for change is especially surreal.
Duncan Hunter notes 1.8 million jobs going to Communist China is the problem. Bravo. Yeah, notes that all the senators voted for Most Favored Nation status for China, sending those jobs to that pit. He was great."
http://tammybruce.com/2007/10/liveblogging_republica.php
Transcript and video.
A Visit To Dubai Inc. Steve Kroft Reports On A Success Story In The Middle East http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/12/60minutes/main3361753.shtml
Key GOP Lawmaker Blasts Ports Deal Rep. Duncan Hunter Says He Will Try To Stop Ports Deal WASHINGTON, March 3, 2006 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/03/politics/main1365718.shtml
See Duncan Hunter interviewed on the Dubai Ports Deal. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JyZTd5UeGE
PING!
bttt
Worth repeating! Thanks.
Duncan Hunter as of now is a co-sponsor of that Traitorous Armenian Genocide Resolution to be voted on this Thursday that is solely designed by the Demorats to destroy Our Alliance with Turkey and to attempt to gain Defeat in Iraq by destroyin Our Supply lines to Iraq thru Turkey. Hopefull Rep.Hunter will wake up and torpedo this awful resolution.
I admit, I haven't learned much about this. Was it genocide? If it was, I see no reason not to admit it.
An article I had not seen:
Leadership knows Rep. Duncan Hunter’s arm doesn’t twist
By Roxana Tiron
April 05, 2006
It is difficult to change Rep. Duncan Hunter’s mind. House leadership officials and the White House have found that out the hard way.
When they wanted him to vote for a pending trade bill last year, Hunter (R-Calif.) refused — again and again. And when the Bush administration tried to convince the powerful Armed Services Committee on its controversial port security plan, Hunter refused to budge.
Twisting Hunter’s arm is impossible, his close friends say.
“The politics of the process does not really concern him,” said Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.), his colleague on the House Armed Services Committee who has known Hunter for 14 years. “He’ll never refuse to listen and works hard to build a base of support” for his ideas.
That has made Hunter predictable to his party, but sometimes also an unwieldy force to the Bush administration.
He refuses to vote for free-trade agreements even when the administration and leadership officials are angling for each and every vote, as was the case with the Central America Free Trade Agreement.
And Hunter, whom many call a protectionist, was instrumental in scuttling a deal that would have given the operations at six major U.S. ports to Dubai Ports World, a company owned by the United Arab Emirates.
“He was shocked that the administration approved the deal,” said Rep. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.), a senior member of Hunter’s committee and a close friend. Saxton worked with Hunter to introduce legislation blocking the deal and revising the foreign-investment process to ensure national security.
“On the Dubai issue, he got all fired up,” a congressional source said. Hunter gathered information to prove that Dubai has not been trustworthy — despite repeated administration assertions that the UAE is a vital ally in the war on terrorism.
It is not often that a guest on a TV news program has the boldness to put the interviewer’s political-activism past in the open, but Hunter wasn’t one to shy away. He made sure to point out, three times, that George Stephanopoulos, the host of ABC’s “This Week,” had worked for President Clinton, who supported the Dubai Ports deal.
“I don’t think President Clinton, your old boss, knows the facts of the transshipment that take place through Dubai sending nuclear components to all parts of the world,” Hunter told Stephanopoulos, in one of the references to Clinton.
Fighting for national security and the men and women in uniform is Hunter’s guiding mantra, according to those who know him well.
At a time when some GOP members are starting to cast doubts on the situation in Iraq, Hunter has been a steadfast supporter of Bush’s approach to the Middle Eastern country.
“I think we are going to be as successful as we were in … [disassembling] the Soviet empire, as successful as we were in bringing democracy to nations in Central America,” said Hunter, who went on several delegations to Iraq.
Hunter opposes troop withdrawal from Iraq until U.S. commanders feel that Iraqi forces have been adequately trained to defend the country.
The Armed Services Committee chairman also became the administration’s defender of U.S. conduct at military-detainee facilities at a time when human rights organizations, internal FBI and military reports, and lawmakers were decrying the inhumane treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Almost a year ago, Hunter went to the grocery store to buy the groceries and cooking supplies for the famous orange-glazed chicken and lemon-baked fish from the menu served at Guantanamo Bay.
Hunter held a press conference with the meal, saying at the time, “We treat [the prisoners] very well.”
He also called the criticism of the prisoners’ treatment “wild accusations.”
“Duncan is a very bright and dedicated individual, and when he has the ability to be creative for the forces that ups the power surge,” said Rep. Robin Hayes (R-N.C.), one of Hunter’s closest friends and a member of his committee. “If he were an atomic-energy clock, the energy would come from the men and women in uniform.”
“He is just a passionate person who sees it like he sees it,” said Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), a centrist who fought for a provision seeking greater controls of detainee treatment in the House. “Congress needs Chairman Hunter. It is not my voice, but people need to hear from people like him,” he said.
Hunter dropped out of college to join the Army and fight in Vietnam. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his service in 24 helicopter combat assaults in Vietnam.
But to this day, Hunter refuses to go back to Vietnam, and according to a source he said that the only way he would come face to face with a Vietnamese is “at the end of my rifle.”
Hunter did not return calls for an interview by press time.
Hunter is a strong supporter of increased defense spending, ensuring the military it has what it needs to fight wars and to transform. While Hunter is seen as a defense hawk ready to dole out money for various programs, the defense industry has mixed feelings about the chairman.
Hunter is a strong “Buy American” supporter. Buy American rules mandate that at least 50 percent of all work on defense contracts be completed domestically.
He also guards the principles of the so-called Berry Amendment, which mandates that all specialty metals going into military weapons systems be made in the United States.
“Hunter comes by these ideas very honestly,” an industry source said. “He has never been in the position to pull this stuff until he became chairman,” but Hunter “has not grown to recognize the reality of global trade and global commerce,” the source added.
His views are so strict that Hunter refuses to get into a foreign-made car. “He can be Detroit’s poster child,” said a source familiar with the congressman.
Hunter voted for only one trade agreement, when Bush first was elected president, Saxton recalled. “He was anguished,” said Saxton, who stood next to him while Hunter voted.
“Mr. Bush is my president, and I have to do this,” Saxton remembered Hunter saying. He voted for the bipartisan trade-promotion authority act, but later, when it was rolled into a larger bill, the Trade Act of 2002, Hunter voted against it.
I hope Turkey will just squawk. Most countries are run by adults who make decisions based on what they see as being in the interest of their country or their regime, not on anger at a piece of toothless grandstanding by Congresscritters, which does not affect their security one bit. The Turks are not on our side because they like us, but because of self-interest. They will not ditch us unless that changes. Similarly, the Chinese will whine about our honoring the Dalai Lama, but their policy towards us will not change as a result. Remember that Turkey apparently let Israel use their air space for the recent attack on Syria, then rhetorically protested the overflights.
I think alot of Pubs are dumping this POS right now. Rep. jane Harmon(D-CA) was a sponsor and just back from Turkey, she has dropped her name as a Co-sponsor and said she know understands how much damage it will do to Our Ally and to Our Relationship with Turkey. When Rep. Harmon goes against her party, Pelosi has a disaster on her hands.
This thread turned into my Dubai bump list:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1519343/posts
Dubai Royals Snatch Up Manhattan Real Estate
>>>Was it genocide?
Yes it was.
Before the planning of the final solution Hitler asked “Who remembers the Armenians?”
Remember: $8 in Dubai beats $1 in Bangladesh. Only a leftist would disagree.
That is a good one. I found that and put it on my blog a few days ago.
Dubai also participates in human trafficking. When that is acceptable (in their work practices), where is the line drawn between foreign labor and slavery?
I did see a lot of political hullabaloo about it being brought up. That kinda tells me we don’t know all the reasons as to why.
Nice one Walter!
The US also participates in human trafficking. Pick up an issue of the Village Voice and look at all the ads for “Asian Girls” and you will see my point.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.